Little Band of Rebels: The Titan Within
by marshmallow-princess
Summary: Band AU - Eren has the craziest ideas... but this one actually seems to hold its own! Eren started a band called The Titan Within... and this is the band's story. Rated T for terrific... and language.


Little Band of Rebels: The Titan Within

Band AU - Eren has the craziest ideas... but this one actually seems to hold its own! Eren started a band called The Titan Within... and this is the band's story.

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'The Beginning' by One Ok Rock

Unfortunately, today was just any other day.

It was a Thursday when things changed. Thursday seemed to be that special day for us. Thursday when my adoptive sister lost her family and got kidnapped; when she first came to our house. Thursday when my parents finalized the adoption; when my mother died and my father abandoned us. Thursday when my sister's uncle learned about her, and reluctantly took us in.

Thursday seemed to be that faithful day. And today was Thursday. We had to go to school.

It was just the three of us. My name is Eren. Mikasa is my sister. Armin is my best friend, but he lives close to Levi, Mikasa's uncle. We actually got to see him more ever since Levi took us in. That was the single good thing about this. Levi is a jerk, but he decided to take both of us in. We still go to the same backwater public school known as Shiganshina Community High School. We still face the same asses.

That Thursday was any other school day. School was almost over. I had one more period. I was currently in seventh period study hall, finishing the reading assignment for English. The teacher was Mr. Pixis, an older single teacher. He's pretty cool. He let's his students listen to iPods, and an occasional movie on the classroom T.V.

I was listening to an Avenged Sevenfold song when the bell rang. I popped my ear buds out and shoved them into my pocket. I grabbed my messenger bag and left. Eighth period was my favorite class ever. Music. It wasn't a specific class like band, or orchestra, or choir. You just had to do something with music. And that was awesome.

But I had to be a dumb ass. I decided to take the long way: stop by my locker, take the back staircase, then venture to the front of the school where the music room was. I didn't want to take reading material home, for fear of what Levi would think of the dirty, over used copy. Besides, I also had to get my geometry homework and the biology work sheet.

I was just spinning the last number of my combination in when Reiner showed up.

Fucking Reiner. The dumb ass couldn't leave me alone. It's okay if he makes fun of me, but every time he talked trash about my family, I wanted to beat him to the ground.

"Hey, Yeager," he said, turnning the lock so that I had to spin it again. "Getting your homework so you can screw the biology teach?"

Miss Zoe was the biology teacher, and she was totally weird. She routinely scares her colleagues and students. "Just because that's all you can get, doesn't mean I have to drop to your standards," I retorted. I noticed Annie, his girlfriend, move. Reiner held her back.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot." Reiner's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "You're screwing Mikasa, aren't you?"

I swiftly turned, trying to get a left hook to his head. But Annie was too fast. She grabbed my fist and kicked me, knocking my feet out from under me. That earned me a face plant on the carpeted floor. My forearm ached from rug burn.

"Eren, you should be able to pay a hooker for sex," she mocked, standing above me. "At least that whore will be outside of the family."

The bystanders paved their way away from me. You had no idea how much I wanted to fight back, get up, grab Annie's hair, punch her until she needed plastic surgery. Or to get Reiner in a choke hold until he passed out. I wanted to, but Levi would've killed me if I got in trouble again.

But I did stand up. Rage coursed through my veins. I couldn't put in my combination correctly the first three times. I swung the door open so that the slam could be heard echoing in the halls, even with everyone's consistent chatter. I grabbed my homework, accidentally ripping the work sheet and most of my geometry notes. I shoved them into the bag.

I had to get to my asylum. Everything would be okay. I just had to get to my asylum.

I ran down the hall. Teachers ignored me. They didn't care. Nobody cared. The problems are only important when they had the bad end of the deal. No one cares until the problem affects them.

And that's why this place is horrible. The bad things always outweighed the good. Sure, I met Armin and Mikasa here. Sure, I learned how to play bass and guitar here. But I've experienced far worse. Mikasa got kidnapped here. I learned about what happened to my mom here. The bullies are here. Actually, it's more like the dicks of SCHS are here.

I would soon forget about this, though. I walked in. Armin was conversing with Mr. Smith, the music teacher. Mikasa was practicing scales. There were other classmates, like Jean, Marco, Krista, and Ymir, just to name some. We all had the mutual understanding that even though school sucked, life was even worse.  
So it didn't really come as a surprise when I slammed my bag down, found the ratty old electronic bass that I normally used, and plugged it in to an unused amp. I just started to play.

Fast and edgy, I played the melody that I liked to call 'Song of the Damned'. Mikasa realized the tune, and brought her electric guitar into the song.  
Something was missing, though. Armin, being the genius that he typically is, knew what it was. He walked to the drum kit in the back. He found the rhythm and gave us a beat.

The sounds were in perfect harmony. Armin clashed the cymbal; Mikasa played faster. It was a moment of bliss for me. Out of all of this horrible shit something beautiful came to life. Three friends created music. Wonderful, beautiful music.

I played the last notes slowly, drawing them out. Armin rolled the drums. The last note drifted from my bass, and Armin ended it with a bang of the cymbal.  
It was over. Our moment of beauty was finished. I was surprised to hear clapping. It was from Krista and Marco, the kindest students in the history of SCHS to step foot in this shitty establishment. What surprised me was Jean clapping. He usually kept away from me, except when Mikasa's around. He was clapping for her, probably. Everyone else clapped, nodded, and gave us their approval. We even got a few compliments.

When the excitement died down, I felt better. The fact didn't change that Reiner and his crew were assholes, but music just made everything better. Mikasa stood her guitar against the wall, and Armin ditched the drumsticks. "What happened?" Mikasa asked.

"Reiner's what happened," I growled. My blood started to boil. Armin let out an exasperated sigh. They knew. Mikasa waited for me to continue. "He said I was screwing Zoe, then I was..." I trailed off. I was starting to feel nauseous.

"Well, that would explain what she was talking about during P.E.," Mikasa told us. Annie and Mikasa had sixth period physical education together. That class has the most injuries.

Armin figured out what we meant. He looked absolutely disgusted. "They're getting worse," he realized.

"If only we can do something about it," I sighed, biting my thumb as a nervous habit. Jean played some music on a portable speaker he has with him. He was playing a cheesy, girl pop song. It sounded like two cats getting hit by a truck on a highway made out of chalkboard, but in actuality, Jean and Marco were having a singing contest. At least they play instruments ten times better than they sing.

And that's when a bolt of lightning come down and hit me (metaphorically, of course). "What if we became a band," Eren thought aloud, "and get famous. That would show them. Hell, it would show every single jerk in our lives. I mean, we already have the skill."

"The chances of us becoming famous are little to none," Armin pointed out.

"So?" I questioned. "Even if it's a trillion to one, it's better than no chance at all."

"Eren, I pretty sure that Levi would say that school comes first," Mikasa added.

"Schoolwork is easy, so don't worry," I reassured. If I didn't understand anything, Armin would help.

"Eren, you're forgetting something," Armin told me, deep in thought. I gave him a questioning look, and he answered, "If we start a band, we're going to need a name."

"So you'll do it?" I asked, then quickly added, "I'll understand if you don't." I looked at my life-long friend. He looked at me like I was the epitome of stupidity.

"I'll do it, Eren," he agreed. "You can't have a band without a drummer."

Mikasa nodded, "I'll join, but don't even make any jokes about dropping the bass." She looked gravely serious.

I chuckled. "Don't worry, Mikasa," I reassured with a smile. "So, what should we call ourselves?"

Jean's rambunctious singing broke our concentration. Marco had stopped long ago. The song Jean was singing was 'Talk Dirty to Me'. He was at the chorus, humming the instrumental part like a mad man. Krista was watching, much to Ymir's chagrin. Marco went off to have a small jam fest with some of the other students.

"Jean, if you're going to sing, at least sing better than the first graders," Mr. Smith called out through the racket. Mr. Smith taught music to all of the grades in the Shiganshina school district. Elementary kids in the morning, middle school in the afternoon around lunch, and us during the afternoon.

"I bet the first graders can't out dance me," he argued, striking a pose. He looked ridiculous. Armin face palmed.

"Jean, you should stop while you're ahead," Ymir inert interjected. "It'd be a shame to see a baby cry."

"Don't worry, Ymir," the French boy consoled. "I won't win too hard."

"I meant you, dumb ass," Ymir corrected. Jean looked like a hurt puppy. I chuckled. It was fun watching him make a fool out of himself.

"Yeager, you think you can do better than me?" he challenged, walking up to where we were sitting.

"I know that I can do better than you any day," I answered. He glared at me. I glared back. Armin sighed. This was normal for us. Somehow.

"No dance offs," Mr. Smith interrupted. "Save those for 80s movies." I slumped down in my seat, pouting. Armin gave a nervous chuckle. I was actually looking forward to the dance competition. It's not everyday I get the chance to beat Jean without getting in trouble. He sulked away to listen to Marco play.

And I had the perfect song, too. _Titan _by Hammerfall. I already had my iPod out and everything. All I had to do was press play. It wasn't the best song ever, certainly nothing I would listen to over and over for days on end. It was certainly a good, energetic metal song. I knew he would agree, as the powerful Jean Kirstein (more like the pitiful) never backs down from a challenge.

He hates metal. He's more of a hip hop or top 40s kind of guy. He made it painfully obvious. When his father drops him off at school, the radio is always blaring some incoherent rap music. He must think he's cool. He never gets my sister's attention, though.

I didn't want to make Mr. Smith mad, so I didn't press play. We've done this before. Mr. Smith told us not to. The second a note of some Taylor Swift song (Jean's selection), we both got banned from instruments for the rest of the week and had to sit in the corners writing about how Mozart affected today's popular music. Needless to say, I failed. I am not a classical music fan. Armin would've been a great source, but no. We had to do this during class. On our own.

"Well, I guess with your win fro- Woah. _Titan_? As in Hammerfall's _Titan_?" Armin questioned.

Mikasa looked at Armin. "Say that again."

"Um, what? As in Hammerfall's _Titan_?" Armin was confused, something that rarely happened. I snapped a quick picture of this rare phenomena on my iPod. Time to spam his email. The subject was, 'RARE HAPPENING: MISSED'.

"No, before that. You said something about 'within'?" Mikasa suggested. I wondered what she was getting at.

"Oh! That." Armin face shown with the clarity of a GIA certified diamond. I snapped another picture. It's going to his inbox. Along with the other one. The subject of this one was, 'ARMIN ARLERT NOW GIA CERTIFIED'. "I was going to say that with Eren's win from before, it wouldn't matter who would be the victor of this competition."

"And his song was..." Mikasa was deep in thought. I didn't want to bug her. She gets really scary when she thinks. Especially if someone interrupts her train of thought. She got a detention for that once because she snapped at a teacher.

Instead, I wanted to annoy Armin. "Check your email," I told him.

"I will when I get home," he promised. Armin went to grab a book from his bag (probably on geology, or something to do with science), but I stopped him.

"No, really. Check your email," I persisted. He really looked annoyed.

Armin resisted, "If you need to tell me something, just tell me." Hm... If he won't listen, then this meant war.

"Armin," I said in the most hilariously serious way possible, "check your email. Before it gets spammed with cat memes." I had enough downloaded to put a full on Attack on Email.

He sighed in annoyance. It's working. "Eren, please don-"

"I got it!"

My sister was super excited about something. Did she get her time of the month...? "What is it, Mikasa?" Armin inquired.

"The Titan Within," she stated.

"What?" The word escaped my mouth before I even realized what either one of us were talking about.

"The band can be called 'The Titan Within'," she explained patiently. Holy crap.

"That's awesome!" I gushed like a fangirl. Armin agreed with the name.

And it was that Thursday, everything changed for us. The Titan Within was born.

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**AN: I do not own One Ok Rock (or any of their songs or song titles), Avenged Sevenfold, Hammerfall (or any of their songs or song titles), Taylor Swift, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, or any other musical person(s) that are mentioned.  
**

**Okay, guys. Since I really want to make this a (semi)serious fic. I will probably fail. But I need your help.**

**What ships should I include? :3**

**I'll have a poll on my profile as to which ship you guys would like me to write. Just a head's up, I already have Levi x Petra planned. So they're taken! Unless...**

**Heh heh heh, I'm revealing too much. ;)**

**Thank you for reading and please leave a review!**


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